How to Thank Employees

Here's another one from the National Federation of Independent Business:

 

How to Thank Employees When You Can't Afford to Give a Bonus

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The end-of-year bonus can be a tricky thing for small-business owners. Let's say last year you had exceptional profits and shared the wealth in the form of cash bonuses. This year perhaps business didn't go as well, and you really can't afford those bonuses. Even if your employees know that you didn't make as much this year, they still may be counting on a similar perk. The unpredictability of profits from year to year is a main reason that many small-business owners avoid holiday bonus altogether.

Read on for tips about non-monetary ways to thank your employees when you can't give bonuses this year.

Let Your Staff Know
the Status of the Bonus

• This topic may be the elephant in the office. While few employees would come out and say that they're expecting a bonus, many of them will expect a bonus, especially if you've given bonuses with any consistency in the past.
  
• Be up front about it. Send a memo or make an announcement in a meeting. Otherwise, you may have employees who think they didn't get a bonus while other people did. While this may be an uncomfortable announcement, and you may have to endure a little grumbling, be transparent about the reasons you can't give a bonus this year. Perhaps your employees aren't aware that the rent for your office space doubled this year, your vendors have increased their prices and so on. Sharing this information will help allay hard feelings.
  
• Also, let your staff know that you still value their contributions, no matter how it translated to your bottom line. And assure them that you'll use the season to celebrate everyone's hard work.

Throw a Holiday Party

Throwing a nice holiday party for your employees might take some of the sting out of not receiving bonuses. Though if it's too nice, your staff might wonder why you didn't take that money and give them bonuses instead. On the whole, a staff party will likely cost much less than giving monetary gifts to all of your staff, and you can still go beyond the usual coffee and cake routine to make the party memorable. You could rent out a room in a restaurant or have something catered in your office. If you really want to help employees forget about the lack of bonuses, hold the party early in the day and let them go home early with full pay.

Hold a Contest

If you're worried about the cost of giving across-the-board bonuses, you could consolidate your available funds with a holiday contest for employees. For example, if all of your employees are sales staff, then you could give a cash prize to the person who picked up the most new clients in December. If you're going the contest route, just make sure that all of your employees can participate, and pick up consolation prizes to acknowledge everyone's contribution. A gift raffle at your holiday party is also a good way to stretch limited funds. You could have one or two grand prizes, a few runner-ups and enough consolation prizes so everyone goes home with at least a good box of chocolates.

Partner with Other Businesses to Give Employee Gifts

Think of all the other small companies with whom you do business or are on a friendly basis. Do they provide any products or services that could make nice gifts for your staff? If so, see if you can arrange a trade or some sort of discount with each other. Just make sure that they offer something your employees will truly appreciate. If you give everyone in your office a pen, for instance, this could be more insulting than giving nothing at all.

Gift Cards

While a bonus check for $50 dollars may not seem like much, a $50 dollar coffee gift card, which would give a person free coffee breaks for a month, could put a smile on an employee's face. While still a modest thank-you, gift cards chosen based on employee's tastes and interests will show your thoughtfulness. (Obviously, you wouldn't get the coffee card for the employee who comes in with a fruit smoothie every morning.)

Many of your employees are probably with you as opposed to a big corporation because they value and admire the ethics of small business. And they understand the monetary fluctuations to which small businesses are sometimes susceptible. If you treat your employees with respect and acknowledge their hard work throughout the year, then this probably means more to them than a bonus check. With a little creativity, you can find ways to make their holiday season a little brighter without breaking the bank.

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8 Surefire Ways to Demotivate

This is from a National Federation of Independent Business site.

 

8 Surefire Ways to Demotivate Your Employees

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Ever notice how a new employee’s enthusiasm eventually wears off? In 85% of companies, employees’ morale significantly drops off after their first six months on the job, according to a survey from Harvard Management Update.
For the most part, enthusiasm is determined by work environment, and it can be fostered or hindered by you—the boss. Employee motivation experts say the best way to keep employee enthusiasm moving forward is to “first, do no harm.” At a minimum, don’t do anything that demotivates your workers.

Check out eight demotivators below.

1. Public criticism. Pointing out a worker’s mistake in front of others rarely yields a good response. Though some managers think public reproach keeps everyone else from making the same mistake—it usually just makes everyone feel bad.
2. Failing to provide praise. If employees feel like their hard work goes unnoticed, they’ll start to wonder why they’re working so hard in the first place. Be sure to offer praise, both privately and publicly. Even small things, like a thank-you card or a “good job” email work. (See also: How to Thank Employees When You Can’t Afford a Bonus.)
3. Not following up. Have you ever solicited ideas, asked what employees think about a policy, or asked your team to draft a proposal? If so, be sure to relay the results, even if the ideas or proposals don’t go anywhere. Asking employees for input without acknowledging it shows a lack of respect.
4. Give unachievable goals or deadlines. Once employees realize they won’t be able to get something done, they’ll think, “What’s the point? I’m going to fail.” Provide goals and deadlines that are challenging, but not impossible.
5. Not explaining your actions or sharing company data. Just because you hold the cards doesn’t mean you should hide them. Explaining the big management decisions will help employees understand your perspective—and they’ll respect you for it. Likewise, sharing key company data such as revenue and profits validates staff contributions.
6. Implied threats. If an employee is producing sub-par work, it’s OK to let them know your expectations. But it’s not OK to threaten their job—especially if you’re threatening the entire team in a public setting. A “do this or else” attitude often has the opposite effect when it comes to motivation.
7. Not honoring creative thinking and problem solving. When employees take initiative to improve something—a company process or an individual task, for instance—don’t blow it off. Instead, take a good, hard look at their suggestion. Don’t ignore it, or you risk losing that employee’s creativity in the future.
8. Micromanagement. Perhaps the worst demotivator is micromanaging. Employees need to feel trusted and valued to succeed—and micromanaging communicates the opposite.

POLITICS

I'm not a particularly political person, but I do try to pay attention to some of the things going on in the world in which I live in. 

I'm not going to comment on the Presidential Candidates, nor on any of the other races that have gone on these last (many!) months, not so far as the people themselves go.  Most of them I've never met and don't know whether or not I would like them as individuals, so with few exceptions I have to vote 'blind' and it's always akin to buying a pig in a poke.

I just have a couple of points I DO want to comment on. 

One is that I need to pay closer attention over the next four years to what's going on out there. 

What I'm going to be looking for is a person who does their homework before opening their mouth, tells us up front what they want to do and how they want to do it, and then follows through.  Without bickering and without throwing mud all over anyone else in the process.  It would be SUCH a relief to hear 'No Comment' every time someone is asked about their opposition instead of all the blame game stuff we've been hearing, and all the finger-pointing that's been going on.  Give me someone who is more interested in getting the job done than in smearing someone else. 

The other, and more important in my opinion, issue is that the closeness of this election is a 'red flag' to me.  Almost half and half; we have become a nation divided.  How are we going to pull ourselves back together? 

I have no solutions, no advice even; all I have is hope and a prayer.

Come to think of it, I reckon that's mostly about all the people had who founded this country.  That and a lot of hard-headedness.  Surely we can't all have gone soft in the head?  God forbid. 

But it's about time for this little old gramma lady to stop thinking so much and start sleeping - I need my rest, you know!